Nutrient intake and digestibility and ruminal parameters in beef cattle fed diets containing Brachiaria brizantha silage and concentrate at different ratios

Nutrient intake, total apparent and partial digestibility, ruminal pH and ammonia (NH3-N) concentrations were evaluated in beef cattle fed diets containing Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu silage and concentrate levels of 200, 350, 500 and 650 g/kg dry matter base. Four crossbred Holstein × Zebu rumen and abomasum fistulated steers, 224 ± 23 kg-average initial live weight, were assigned to a 4 × 4 Latin square design. Chromic oxide was used as marker for estimates of faecal and abomasal dry matter flow. dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), total carbohydrates (TCHO) and non-fibrous carbohydrates (NFC) (kg/d) intakes increased linearly (P0.05) by the diets. Concentrate level only affected apparent ruminal and intestinal digestibility for DM, CP and EE, using an adjusted quadratic equation (P